The Florida Classic/Family Classic ended in disappointment for the Rattlers again this year as the Rattlers fell to the Buthune Cookman Wildcats 29-10. In what was a tough year for the Rattlers, losing this game only added salt to the wound as the Rattlers also lost homecoming. Not a good start for first year head coach Earl Holmes.

FAMU drew first blood as they scored on a 41 yard field goal by Chase Varnadore to take the early lead. But BCU followed up with two scores of their own in the first quarter as quarterback Quentin Williams proved to be too elusive for the FAMU defense and scored on runs of 10 and 17 yards to put the Wild cats up 14-3.

FAMU did not score an offensive touchdown but Jonathan Pillow managed to score for the defense, picking up a fumble and running it in from 45 yards out. The score was 21-10 at the end of the third quarter and FAMUans held out hope that they could make a comeback, but that was not to be this year. BCU added another touchdown and a two-point conversion to put the Rattlers away, leaving about three minutes on the clock.

The FAMU Rattlers had perhaps their worst output in years amassing a paltry 89 yards on 47 plays for the game. The BCU Wildcats on the other hand had 29 first downs to FAMU’s 10 and out gained the Rattlers with 289 total yards on 73 plays. BCU held the ball for 36:48 minutes of the game.

With the win, the Wildcats will travel this weekend to Coastal Carolina to represent the MEAC in the playoffs as the MEAC Champs.

They had hoped for a home game, but the NCAA saw it differently as the Wildcats have never won a playoff game. The South Carolina State Bulldogs also got invited to the playoffs and will host Furman of the Southern Conference. A third HBCU, Tennessee State University will also be in the playoffs this year and will face Butler in Indianapolis, IN.

Congresswoman Corrine Brown and Florida’s Postmaster General were at the game to announce the release of three historical stamps. FAMU’s own Althea Gibson is featured on one of those stamps. In 1956 she became the first person of color to win a Grand Slam title (the French Open). The following year she won both Wimbledon and the U.S. Nationals (precursor of the U.S. Open), then won both again in 1958, and was voted Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press in both years. In all she won 11 Grand Slam tournaments, including six doubles titles, and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame. “She is one of the greatest players who ever lived,” said Robert Ryland, a tennis contemporary and former coach of Venus and Serena Williams. “Martina couldn’t touch her. I think she’d beat the Williams sisters.”

The other two stamps included a Ray Charles Stamp and one that marked the 50 year anniversary of the Civil Rights movement.